Muslims across Pakistan hold anti-Sweden rallies to denounce burning of Islam’s holy book

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Thousands of Muslims in Pakistan have held rallies to protest last week’s burning of the Islamic holy book in Stockholm following a call by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to “send a strong message to Sweden.” The biggest anti-Sweden rallies were held on Friday in the eastern city of Lahore and Karachi, the largest city in the South Asian Islamic country. Thousands of people gathered on main roads before dispersing peacefully. In the capital, Islamabad, lawyers outside the Supreme Court demanded the severing of diplomatic ties with Sweden. Anger has grown in Muslim countries since last Wednesday when a man identified in Swedish media as an Iraqi Christian immigrant burned a Quran outside a mosque in Stockholm on the festival of Eid al-Adha.